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Engineering Design and Consideration in Passive Fire
Protection – Firestopping
Andrew T.O. Laua and Selina Y. Lina
a) Hilti (Hong Kong) Ltd, 701-704 & 708A&B, 7/F, Tower
A, Manulife Financial Centre, 223 Wai Yip
Street, Kwun Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Abstract: Firestopping, which reinstates the fire resistance of
fire compartmentation
barrier that are perforated by openings and joints, is an
essential and crucial element for fire
safety design in building. With the advancement in firestopping
technology and improvement
of design concept, firestopping has come to the new era of an
application base. Proprietary
product design concept which is less relied on site variation
and workmanship has been
adopted overwhelmingly overseas. On the other hand, firestopping
design always has the
challenge to accommodate various deviations from original
design/fire testing configuration to
the as-built site situation. Engineering judgement based on the
firestopping principle and vast
fire testing experience are needed to assess a modification
design. In this paper, we will
share the state-of-art of firestopping technology with the
design concept and testing principle.
Typical firestopping applications are discussed with their
special requirements and
considerations. In addition, case studies based on Hong Kong
(HK) and Macau projects are
presented to showcase how to perform engineering judgement in
special applications.
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Importance of firestopping
Failure of firestopping, even for as small size as electric
cables, can lead to
catastrophic fire accidence. In January 2016, a fire engulfed
the 63-storey Address
Downtown Dubai Hotel, with casualties of 1 dead and 14 injured.
The aftermath investigation
reveals a spark originated from the short circuit of an outdoor
spotlight on the 15th floor [1].
Fire spread indoor via spotlight electric cables due to lack of
firestopping system. The
alarming system wasn’t activated since smoke detectors were only
installed indoor. Fire also
spread to 14th floor by falling debris. Luckily, most of the
hotel guests were able to escape
from the building in time with the alert from hotel staff. The
fire accident would not have
happened if a proper firestopping system had been installed in
the opening through which
the short-circuited electric cable passed. Approved firestopping
systems should have
stopped the fire at its very origin and save lives and avoid
tremendous property loss.
Fire safety design in buildings is of great importance to
property protection and life
safety, especially in a highly populous urban city like Hong
Kong which has many
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skyscrapers. The fire safety designs in buildings are usually
classified into four categories:
fire safety management measures, fire and smoke detection and
alarm system, active
firefighting and suppression system, and passive fire protection
system. The detail
descriptions of these fire safety systems are summarized in
table 1. The four systems offers
fire safety measures to property and occupants throughout fire
development at different
status. Each one has its own unique function and hence cannot
replaced by each other.
Passive fire protection system is a ‘fail safe design’ tactic to
minimize the damage to building
structural safety and threat to the lives of occupants by the
division of building space into fire
compartmentation constructed with fire resisting materials. The
fire compartmentation is
designed to contain fire and smoke once started at its origin
and prevent their spread into
other compartments. More importantly, the fire compartmentation
design maintains a safe
escape route for occupants to flee and for firefighters to
rescue people trapped in the fire
scene. Each fire barrier in compartmentation should be
imperforated to maintain its proper
function. In reality, fire barriers have to allow openings for
access doors and building services
penetration. Access doors are required to be fire rated, in
which its product certificate and
installation details are scrutinized, due to a few recent fire
accident investigation exposing its
malfunction. Openings associated with building service
penetrations and construction joints
shall be sealed up with firestopping materials. However,
firestopping has not gained
adequate attention in current construction industry, though they
are as equally important as
fire rated doors to stop fire and smoke spread. If firestopping
is not designed nor constructed
properly for these joints and openings, fire and smoke will
easily penetrate through them,
thus the function of fire compartmentation barrier is defeated.
This results in an increase in
total fire risk, potential loss of life during a fire incident,
increase in insurance premium and
overall depreciation of the property in general. In this paper,
we would like to share the
firestopping engineering design principle and its advancement in
technology. Firestopping
design and inspection in recent Hong Kong and Macau projects are
also highlighted as case
studies.
TABLE 1. Four levels of fire safety in buildings.
Categories Example Designated Function Limitations
Fire Safety
Managemen
t Measures
• Fire safety
training
• Escape drills
1. Prevent fire accident
caused by human
2. Minimize damages
arising from fire
accident
1. It can’t eliminate possibility of
fire accident
2. Escape drills only useful before
the fire and smoke spread to
escape route
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Categories Example Designated Function Limitations
Fire and
Smoke
Detection
and Alarm
System
• Automatic Fire
Alarm System
• Smoke/heat
detectors
• Break glass
1. Detect and alert when
there is fire incident
2. Activate active fire
alarm system
1. AFA system can be disabled or
malfunction
2. False alarm due to dust or
humidity caused distrust of the
system
Active Fire
Fighting
and
Suppressio
n System
• Sprinklers
• Fire hose reel
• Fire
distinguisher
1. Put away fire
automatically or
manually
2. Protect human life or
properties from fire or
smoke hazard
1. Wrong application, e.g. fire
caused by electricity should not
use water to fight
2. Rely on proper maintenance
and operation to ensure
functionality maintain
throughout the years
3. If the fire can’t be killed within a
period of time, the steam
created by sprinkler water may
speed up the spread of smoke
and temperature
Passive Fire
Protection
System
• Fire and smoke
doors
• Firestopping
1. Contain fire and smoke
from spread around the
entire building
2. Maintain the escape
route and/or refuge
floor free from fire and
smoke hazard
1. Only functional if design,
constructed and maintained
properly
2. Fire and smoke doors are often
left open due to convenience
1.2 Firestopping practice in HK and oversea
Whilst firestopping is a crucial step to reinstate a fire
barrier, many misuses of
firestopping system occur due to misunderstanding of
firestopping working principle. Proper
firestopping function relies on the whole firestopping system,
including penetration item,
based materials and firestopping materials. It should be
emphasized that firestopping is not
merely a material-based approval, instead, but shall be system
consideration. A typical
misconception about firestopping is acrylic based firestop
sealant applicable to seal up any
openings and joints, as long as it has the same fire resistant
rating (FRR) as the fire barrier.
The fact is acrylic based firestop sealant is only applicable to
narrow linear joints (usually
less than 30 mm) with limited movement requirement or narrow
annular gaps around non-
combustible pipes. The firestop sealant is never able to achieve
firestopping function for an
insulated pipe, although it has FRR for linear joint
applications.
Currently in Hong Kong, most of the firestopping designs are
delegated to installation
contractors, whereas consultants only specify the fire
resistance rating of the system.
Contractors, for the sake of various reasons, tend to use one
solution for all, i.e. one firestop
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sealant for all firestopping systems. The vast materials
submission and separated
submission of installation details hinder consultants to figure
out the misuse of firestopping
materials. Furthermore, lack of firestopping mandatory
inspection by third party loses the last
chance to find out the possible failure of firestopping system.
Material schedules which
record all firestopping materials used has to be submitted to
the Buildings Department for
occupation permit application. However, the materials schedule
only lists the firestopping
materials in use, without mentioning the applications where they
are used. It is impossible to
countercheck or supervise the correct firestopping application
under such current system.
In Europe and North America, which have rigorous fire safety
requirements for
buildings, firestop systems are designed based on approvals such
as European Technology
Approvals (ETA) or Underwriter Laboratory (UL) systems. Specific
design requirements are
listed clearly in these approvals, therefore system designers
and applicators are easier to
follow. There are also stringent requirements to document each
firestop system in a building
with identification to represent the location of the system in
the building floor plans.
Systematic documentation will ensure proper installation and
inspection, future maintenance
will become easier and as a result, the fire compartmentation
barrier remains effective.
Independent passive fire inspector is often required in United
States and it definitely
improves the final design and workmanship significantly.
2. FIRESTOPPING TECHNOLOGY
2.1 Firestopping working principle
There are two major types of firestopping applications, i.e.
construction joints and
penetrations. Each of the two has its own critical consideration
when designing the
firestopping systems. A simplified firestopping application
design matrix is shown in table 2.
Construction joint, referring to the linear gap between two fire
barriers, such as wall-to-wall,
slab-to-wall, and floor-to-floor, usually requires certain
amount of movement capability due to
varied reasons, such as thermal differentials, seismicity and
movement induced by wind
load. The effects of movement within the supporting construction
on the fire performance of
linear joint seals, which are easily overlooked, shall be tested
in accordance to the current
test standards. If materials with zero movement capacity, such
as non-shrink cement grout,
is used in firestop for a linear joint with movement design, it
is highly likely that fire and
smoke may leak through the movement induced gap. Firestopping
materials with suitable
movement capacity should be selected to cater for the movement
tolerance design. Typical
examples of joint applications with movement requirements are
top of wall joint in tunnel,
curtain wall joint and precast facade joint in spandrel
zone.
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For penetration firestopping applications, the most critical
consideration is the
combustibility of the penetration items. Combustible materials,
such as plastic pipes,
insulation layers (for hot/chilled water pipe, condensation pipe
and refrigerant pipe) and cable
PVC jacket, would be burnt out under fire, leading to fire and
hot gases passing through the
resulted through opening. Intumescent materials, which swell and
expand multiple times
under high temperature, are able to timely close up the
burnt-out holes of the combustible
materials in preventing fire and smoke from passing through.
Among the combustible
penetration, cables penetrations firestopping is a challenging
area due to various cable sizes
and varied installation details. In short, cable penetrations
happen in the following systems:
cable tray, cable trunking and cable bundle. Firestopping system
selected for cable
penetration should take into account cable size, number of
cables, overall opening size, and
ratios of cable cross-section area to sealing system, etc. In
addition to intumescent
firestopping technology, firestop coating is another
well-approved technology for cable
penetration. Firestop coating is applied on the cable surface
protruding the opening, over
certain distance, for example 150 mm. The working principle of
the firestop coating is to slow
down the burning of PVC jacket in order to achieve the integrity
requirement in required
period.
It is worth mentioning that firestopping for penetrations also
involves consideration of
the substrates and the type of fire barriers that being
penetrated. Fire barriers are mainly
divided into two types, i.e. rigid and flexible. Concrete and
brick wall is a typical example for
rigid fire barrier whilst dry wall made of gypsum boards is an
example for flexible wall. The
base materials shall match with the configuration details in the
test report.
In summary, the firestopping system selection shall base on
system characteristics
and additional requirements, such as movement capacity. Critical
parameters limiting the
application filed of the system, such as joint width, opening
size, pipe size, etc. should be
carefully cross-checked in order to select a proper function
firestopping system.
TABLE 2. Simplified firestopping applications design matrix.
Type Categories Consideration Applicable solutions
Joint
Top of wall 1. Movement requirement 1. Elastic firestop sealant
with
PE rod
Curtain wall 1. Specific smoke
tightness requirement
1. Firestop spray
Precast facade joint 1. Movement requirement
2. UV and water
resistance
1. High movement silicone
based firestop sealant
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Type Categories Consideration Applicable solutions
Penetration
- Pipes
Non-combustible pipe 1. Heat transfer through
the pipe
1. Elastic firestop sealant with
mineral wool
Combustible pipe 1. Pipe melt under fire 1. Intumescent firestop
collar or wrap
Non-combustible pipe
with combustible
insulation
1. Insulation melt under fire 1. Intumescent firestop
collar,
wrap or bandage
Penetration
- Cables
Cable Tray 1. Cable coating jacket melt under fire
2. Metal tray transfer heat
1. Firestop coated board
2. Firestop intumescent block
3. Firestop mortar with
intumescent sealant
Cable Trunking 1. There is gap inside metal trunking even if
the cables are fully filled
1. Firestop sealant for outside
the trunking
2. Firestop intumescent block
inside the trunking
Single cable or bundle 1. Cable coating jacket melt under
fire
1. Firestop intumescent
sealant
2. Firestop putty disc
3. Firestop speed sleeve
Special
Application
Drywall Socket Box 1. Heat transfer if the socket box is
metal
2. Fire will pass through if
the socket box is plastic
1. Firestop Putty Pad
Embedded Socket Box 1. Reduced the original rigid fire
barrier
thickness
1. Firestop Putty Pad
2.2 Firestopping test standards
Firestopping performance are characterized by FRR, which
typically means the
duration for which a passive fire protection system can
withstand a standard fire resistance
test. This can be quantified simply as a measure of time. FRR,
expressed in the format of
x/y/z in mints (for instance, 60/60/60), measures fire
resistance in three criteria: stability,
integrity and insulation, respectively. Stability is applicable
for load-bearing construction
elements, which is not required for firestopping. Integrity
fails at the moment that a cotton
wool pad is ignited by sustained flame or hot gases through
openings, or gaps developed to
certain dimension. Insulation criteria measures the time after
when average temperature rise
on the non-fire exposed side shall not exceed 140 degrees
Celsius and the maximum
temperature rise shall not exceed 180 degrees Celsius.
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Among various international fire resistance test standards,
British Standard,
European Standard and American Standard are good representatives
of different levels of
standards. British standard (BS 476 Part 20 and 23) is a pure
testing standard and barely
tells anything about the field of applications. Any deviation of
firestopping system in a specific
project from test results needs an assessment report from
accredited test laboratories. Vast
variations actually render this assessment impossible and thus
projects rarely apply for
assessment report. European standards (BS EN 1366-3 and 1366-4)
employs a so-called
‘standardized test configuration’. Certain application ranges
are approved if the firestopping
system can pass different severe levels of test conditions. The
field of applications from test
result are clearly stated in the test report. Assessment report
is no longer needed for
European standard. In America, firestop systems are specifically
defined by UL listings,
which go through fire test according to ASTM/UL standard and
hose stream test applied after
the fire test. The reason to conduct a hose stream test is to
ensure the firestop system is
capable of sustaining water pressure applied by fire hose during
a fire event. Professional
engineers recognized by UL may conduct engineering judgement
according to the existing
UL system and firestopping principle to create a project
specific UL system. A case study of
applying engineering judgement will be discussed.
Test standards under the three international systems are
summarized in Table 3. In
Hong Kong, the recognized firestopping test standards are
European Standard (e.g. BS EN
1366-3, BS EN 1366-4) and British Standard (e.g. BS 476 Part 20
and Part 23) until they are
obsolete, according to the Code of Practice for Fire Safety
Construction issued by Building
Department in year 2011 [2].
TABLE 3. Summary of Firestopping standard.
International
system
Approval / Listing Categories Test Standard
European (EN) ETA
Principle EN 1363-1
Joint EN 1363-4
Penetration EN 1366-3
Curtain Wall EN 1364-3 or 4
British (BS) N/A
Principle BS 476 Part 20
Joint BS 476 Part 20/23
Penetration BS 476 Part 20/23
American (UL) UL System Principle ASTM E119
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International
system
Approval / Listing Categories Test Standard
Joint ASTM E1966 (UL 2079)
Penetration ASTM E814 (UL 1479)
2.4 Cutting-edge of firestopping technology
With the advancement in firestopping technology and improvement
of the design
concept, firestopping has come to the new era of an application
base. Proprietary product
design concept is less relied on site variation and workmanship
has been adopted
overwhelmingly overseas. Preformed products, such as cast-in
firestop device for
combustible penetrations with preinstalled intumescent wrap and
smoke-seal strip, is a state-
of-the-art firestopping solution aimed to abolish the
possibility of wrong firestopping design by
contractors. From the design and approval perspective, engineers
can utilize online tools,
such as firestop product selector, to ensure the products
submitted were designed for the
specific applications. Integrating the firestopping design,
tender, construction and
maintenance process with the entire construction project through
3-D simulation software like
Building Information System (BIM) can highly reduce the risk for
improper design due to
onsite limitation. Installation monitoring and documentation can
now be done easily by cloud-
based online system with mobile apps and associated tools which
is widely available in the
market.
3. FIRESTOPPING APPLICATION
As discussed in this article, there are much knowledge and
consideration when
designing proper firestop application. This section intended to
provide some examples and
sharing of technical considerations during the design process.
However, it is important to
note that consideration and limitation is project specific, the
design process may vary from
project to project. The Buildings Department has published a
central data bank (CBD) to
provide historical data record on previously approved firestop
products in construction
projects. However, the application and influencing parameters
are not documented in the
CBD. Therefore, professional should take into consideration the
application system as a
whole instead of compliance of single product when designing
firestopping. In this paper,
three typical firestop applications and two case studies are
discussed from the engineering
aspect to provide a brief example of designing firestop
application.
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3.1 Examples of typical firestop applications
3.1.1 Curtain wall perimeter joint
Curtain wall façade has become a popular design for high-rise
commercial and
residential buildings in HK. To prevent fire spread externally
from lower floors to upper floors,
the curtain wall should be entirely constructed with
non-combustible material and vertical
spandrel zone shall be maintained. There is usually a gap of up
to 150 mm in width between
the spandrel zone and curtain wall insulation back panels. The
gaps, i.e., perimeter joint, if
not properly applied with firestopping at different floors,
chimney effect would be easily
developed under fire, allowing smoke and fire spread upwardly
quickly. The fire accidence of
First Interstate Bank in Los Angeles in May 1988 was blamed to
the lack of firestopping
between the floor slabs and the skin, permitting the fire to
spread from floor to floor through
this space [4]. Fire was observed spreading through this are
even discovered before the
glass and mullions failed. To truly reflect the curtain wall
distortion/deflection behavior under
fire, the firestopping system for the perimeter joint shall be
tested in accordance to EN 1364-
3 for a full scale test or 1364-4 for a partial scale test. In
addition, smoke leakage
requirement in accordance to standard EN 12101-1 shall also be
carried out in order to make
sure the air tightness of the whole system. The worldwide
adopted solution to achieve both
test standards consists of firestop joint spray and compressed
mineral wool. This firestopping
system has the movement capacity, which is required due to wind
load. Moreover, the
system is also tested to prove its effective firestopping
performance for the perimeter joint
even when the curtain wall structure distorted /deflected under
fire. A configuration of this
application is shown in figure 3. The influencing parameters in
this application are the joint
width (w), mineral wool thickness (tB), nominal density of the
mineral wool, and joint spray
thickness (tA), which shall be cross-checked to select the right
system.
FIGURE 3. Configurations of curtain wall perimeter seal firestop
system.
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3.1.2 Lift door frame and call buttons
Lift shaft forms a vertical fire compartment and firestopping at
joints and openings are
particularly important to prevent fire from spreading into the
lift shaft. The gaps between the
concrete openings and the lift landing door frame, as well as
the indicator panels and switch
control box (i.e. lift call buttons) shall be properly provided
with firestopping. Design a firestop
solution for the lift door frame vertical gap should consider
the FRR of the lift shaft, the joint
width and the depth of application. Firestop mortar with minimum
40 mm deep is one of the
possible solutions and the design is shown in figure 4. It
should be noted that cement sand,
which is usually used to backfill the gaps, is not an approved
firestopping materials. Spalling
of concrete [3] and cement sand under fire show its limitation
to stop fire spread.
Firestopping for display panel and switch control box may also
apply with firestop mortar if
the depth of firestop mortar has minimum of 40 mm. Firestop
intumescent putty pad would be
the alternative solution if the thickness available at the back
of control panel/indicator panel is
only a few millimeter.
FIGURE 4. Lift door frame firestopping.
3.1.3 Cable tray in a multiply-penetration opening
In most cases, cable tray penetration application comes in one
opening with other
penetration services such as cable trunking and pipes as shown
in Figure 5. To firestop
cable tray penetrations, a few solutions are applicable as shown
in table 2 and all come with
different advantages. For example, a firestop coated board
design has the advantage of easy
application and large supporting size. As for firestop block
design, it benefits the end users
for frequently re-penetrate the cables. Finally firestop mortar
with intumescent sealant is the
lowest material cost solution but the drawback is labor
consuming and difficult for future
maintenance. If there exists a combustible pipe within the same
opening, an intumescent
firestop collar instead of firestop wrap should be applied on
top of a coated board system.
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This is because the coated board system cannot sustain the
expansion pressure of the wrap
and the firestopping function cannot achieve with this
combination.
FIGURE 5. Large opening with cable tray penetration
firestopping.
3.2 Case studies
3.2.1 Inspection on installations and Engineering Judgement in
Macau project
The first case study sharing is a US owned casino hotel project
in Macau. The
construction project is designed to International Building Code
whereby all firestoppings are
designed and constructed according to UL system. Basically all
typical firestop applications
are present in this project, however, due to site limitations,
many typical UL system cannot
be applied directly. Since this project involved high level
complexity and inexperienced local
contractor applicator in firestopping, the owner’s
representative hired independent passive
fire consultant (IPFC) to oversee the design and construction
processes. The first
requirement by the IPFC was to ensure all applicators equipped
with relevant knowledge in
firestopping, and all applicators are mandated to attend
installation training before working
onsite. Another requirement by the IPFC is the formal
documentation for all firestopping
applications. Label stickers are mandatory to install in all
firestopping location with reference
UL system written. This process allows inspectors to understand
all the influencing
parameters listed in the UL system and compare physically
onsite. In the early project phase,
some applications are designed according to standard UL systems.
However, during
inspection, the IPFC found some of the influencing parameters
unmatched with those
designed to UL system and instructed the contractors to seek for
other solution. Engineering
judgement becomes an important tools for both irregular system
and those with parameters
variances. One of the applications is the lift door frame joint,
owing to the physical condition,
irregular sharp and extremely narrow, firestop mortar cannot be
installed. From engineering
judgement with reference of three typical UL systems, a solution
with firestop joint spray and
compressed mineral wool forming a firestopping design. The
details and configuration are
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shown in appendix B. Another application is a large penetration
opening with cables and
pipes penetration. The opening of the onsite configuration is
larger than the range in the UL
system, however since there exist penetration services
supporting frame, firestop block
became a possible solution. Through engineering judgement and
reference with two UL
systems, this firestopping system has formed a project specific
UL system. By working with
IPFC and applying engineering judgement, the owner benefits time
and capital investment
saving and achieved a smooth construction project and code
compliance system.
3.2.2 Special firestopping solutions for HK A&A project
The second case study is a modernization project of a commercial
office building in
Hong Kong. The scope of this project includes the relocation of
plant rooms, pipe duct
rooms, waste water pipe, chilled water pipes and electric
distribution system. Since the
project is carried out under occupation, the commonly used
firestopping solutions that require
significant onsite installation works are not ideal. Therefore,
the firestopping of this project
utilized preformed and time saving solutions, such as firestop
foam, bandage, block and
coated board. The traditional firestopping design for chilled
water pipe is by interrupting the
insulation material and welding a 6 mm thick metal plate in the
middle of the preinstalled
metal sleeve, then applying mineral wool with firestop sealant
at the gap between the pipe
and sleeve. For this project, onsite welding work is not
feasible. Therefore, the firestopping
design applied firestop bandage is installed without
interrupting the insulation material, as
shown in Figure 6. The installation process became much faster
and easier by eliminating
the welding procedure.
FIGURE 6. Chilled water pipe protected with firestop bandage
4. CONCLUSION
Firestopping are designed to restore the fire resistance rating
of fire barriers.
Incorrectly protected openings in fire barrier destroy the
function of fire compartmentation for
passive fire protection, resulting in spread of fire and smoke
and thus damaging the building
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and threating lives. Firestopping design shall be a system
consideration, instead of a product
approval regardless of its applications. Different international
fire resistance test standards
are reviewed and compared. British standard is a pure testing
standard while European
standards not only provide the test results but also the state
the field of applications.
Moreover, fundamental firestopping principle and design
consideration were briefly
introduced. In addition, three typical applications and two case
studies were discussed to
serve as an example of challenges in firestopping design. To
increase the fire safety of
buildings, it is important to upgrade the professional knowledge
in firestopping among the
construction society and to improve installation quality through
third party inspection. With
the technology advancement in firestopping, design and
installation of an appropriate
firestopping system will be done effectively in the future.
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APPENDIX – EXAMPLES OF ENGINEERING JUDGEMENT SOLUTIONS
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REFERENCES
1.
http://www.thenational.ae/uae/short-circuit-on-spotlight-blamed-for-the-address-downtown-dubai-
hotel-fire
2. Building Department, Code of Practice in Fire Safety in
Buildings, 2011
3. Morita T., Nishida A., Yamazaki N., An Experimental Study on
Spalling of High Strength Concrete
Elements under Fire Attack, Fire Safety Science - Proceeding of
Sixth International Symposium,
France, 1999
4.
https://www.usfa.fema.gov/downloads/txt/publications/tr-022.txt